Although the GFA has remained tight-lipped over the identity of applicants for the job and the shortlisted candidates, grapevine sources have told the Graphic Sports that Frenchman Willy Sagnol, former Black Stars captain and coach, James Kwasi Appiah and Belgian Hugo Broos are at the forefront of the five-man shortlist that also includes Briton Harry Redknapp and former Brazil and Real Madrid star, Roberto Carlos.

The shortlisted coaches, according to FA sources, have been contacted and interview dates are being arranged for them as early as next week to enable the search committee complete its work by the end of this month.

These five men reportedly met the criteria set out by the FA’s six-member search committee led by GFA president, Kwesi Nyantakyi.

Of the five, Belgian Broos looks a favourite as his credentials were enhanced last month after leading a relatively inexperienced Cameroun team to win their fifth continental title at the Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon.

Appiah’s inclusion on the shortlist is considered by many to have been strengthened by the Ministry of Youth and Sports’ preference for a local coach, and it is for the former national coach who led Ghana to the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil,  to convince the panel that he deserves a second chance at the job he walked away from by mutual consent in late 2014.

Sagnol, a former France international and one-time coach of French side Bordeaux, also handled his country’s under-20 side in the past.

The GFA has refused to comment on the list, even though its vice president and a member of the search team, George Afriyie, has given an assurance that “a new coach will be appointed by April.”